Traditional York pubs are to be the toast of tourists chiefs who plan to use the city's historic alehouses to help attract younger people to the city for short breaks.

The city's pubs, along with its wealth of restaurants and excellent rail links, will feature in a new advertising campaign aimed at pulling the 20 and 30-somethings to York.

Recent research among the target age group in Edinburgh and London found people were put off coming to York because of its perceived dull night life - despite the fact York boasts more than 200 pubs.

They also thought it took too long to reach by train - estimating at least three hours from London, when, in fact, it is just two.

Now city tourism bosses plan to redress the balance in an a new marketing campaign to launch later this summer.

Jo Murray, marketing manager for the York Tourism Bureau, said: "One of the things we are working on is promoting the night life in York.

"We are not trying to compete with the London or Edinburgh club scene. What we are saying is: Come to York and you can have a really nice evening out, going to a nice restaurant, a traditional pub and then walk back to your hotel."

However, she added, it was not the intention to attract gangs of young men and women to come to the city for a drinking extravaganza.

"We want to take a balanced approach and attract the right type of person to York," she said.

"We want them to go to the shops and visit the attractions and spend their money going on the tours."

Michael Hjort, chairman of the York Hospitality Association, welcomed the bureau's campaign, but warned the city still needed to develop quality bars and restaurants to appeal to young people, and move away from the publicity surrounding pub crawls on the Micklegate run.

He said: "We have to look at the product - it's not as good as it could be."

He praised new initiatives like the new Slug and Lettuce bar in Back Swinegate and the ambitious project to move the City Screen cinema to Coney Street and build new restaurant and bars in its waterside complex.

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